US Soccer holding us hostage

[Unregistered]

Please stop the who's better ECNL or GDA. Just play one or the other or OYSA NPL whatever makes you happy.

Compared to other college sport there is great opportunity to play college soccer and get a good education. Coaches will find player no matter the league, they have to lots of roster spots to fill. Don't get picked for the national team, lucky you. Even worse you might have to play in the pro league for very little money.

It’s 4and a half hours each way from Medford to Portland. Please tell me there are no players traveling 9hs round trip on 4 days a week to train with the Thorns Academy or Ecnl?

[Unregistered]

It’s 4and a half hours each way from Medford to Portland. Please tell me there are no players traveling 9hs round trip on 4 days a week to train with the Thorns Academy or Ecnl?

Someone could tell you that, but that would be wrong. Anyone living in a small market suffers from limited competition. Driving to Eugene may be closer to get to more competition, but for any player who is devoted and wants to improve at the highest rate possible in this area, driving to higher population metro like Portland, staying with friends, adjusted school curriculum etc. is the likely best option for that player. Doesn’t matter as much the team (individual choice). Need to find a team with enough skilled players that know how to give and receive one touch passing, trap and control, pressure the ball and can match speed etc. These qualities matter to a player being able to develop in practice. Maybe playing on boys teams might work for a girl in smaller markets, but even that has its own limitations. “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another...” Proverbs 27:17. Nothing new here.

[Unregistered]

some do make the many hour drive choice. It is actually surprising how many hours some will spend in a car. To each their own but seems like a lot of car hours if the team you’re traveling to play on doesn’t have much steel. Just as an example, and they are by no means the only weak “elite” team but Thorns GdA 03/02 team is sorely lacking much sharp steel. The patch must have a huge draw. 4-9hrs in the car several times a week isn’t so bad if you’re training with a team of ynt players but traveling that far to play on a team worse than what players in outlying cities have in their own backyards is a personal choice I don’t really understand. I see way more incentive for metro players to play in Seattle where there is more sharp metal to sharpen on.

[Unregistered]

Seattle Tacoma Everett Metro population is 3.7 Million. If you include skagit and what on counties (Mt Vernon and Bellingham) you get closer to 3.9. Portland Vancouver Salem metro area is 3.1 Million. Looking specifically at the girls side of things, Seattle Tacoma has 2 DA teams, 4 ECNL teams and many USYS teams. Portland has 1 DA team, 2 ECNL teams and many USYS teams. One could argue Portland metro is now diluting the talent less than Seattle. It all depends on if Seattle soccer culture is establishing a norm for top talent to go to a particular league’s teams or not. Another factor in today’s options for devoted soccer players is of course not a league preference, rather a coach preference that ends up centralizing top talent to a particular team. In both metros I suspect Seattle cannot field 6+ top teams per age group as equally difficult as it is for Portland to field 3+ per age group. Your argument that an outlier team might equal a team in Portland metro is sound, but equaling a lower performing team is not the comparison. Using your example, the better comparison for the 03’ age group would be if an outlying team could beat Crossfire ECNL 03’ or GPS 03’. Every age group has a top team or two in Portland Metro that could defeat consistently teams In downstate Oregon.
Seattle metro may have a leg up though in its athletic youth quality. The reality is we see it in overall top youth track times/marks between the two states. Seattle has many more retired professional American football athletes (large rosters compared to other sports), professional female basketball, amateur baseball teams, like Oregon their professional soccer teams, and their largest D1 College is right in Seattle metro vs Oregon’s is in Eugene and many athletes attending U of O leave OR when done.

[Unregistered]

True. So if you live in Hawaii, Northeast Arizona, Southeast Utah, all of New Mexico, western Colorado, western Pennsylvania, and a dozen other "unshaded" areas on the GDA map, regardless of your talent or potential, you will not be considered for a national team callup - unless you are willing to move or commute many, many hours to join a GDA club.

Yes, if you have NT aspirations you should move. That may sound cruel but that's how world soccer has worked for 50 years. Why do you think that anyone with pro aspirations in the US looks to play in Europe? Same philosophy. If you want to be at the very top, you must be willing to sacrifice to get there.

Look at how many Olympian's move to where the top training centers are. It is no different.

[Unregistered]

Yes, if you have NT aspirations you should move. That may sound cruel but that's how world soccer has worked for 50 years. Why do you think that anyone with pro aspirations in the US looks to play in Europe? Same philosophy. If you want to be at the very top, you must be willing to sacrifice to get there.

Look at how many Olympian's move to where the top training centers are. It is no different.

It's why our NT players (or top 50 kids/age group, some how defined) would be better served having a residential program with a high quality academic school. They'd train together constantly under USSF coaches, not club coaches.

[Unregistered]

The single best thing that could happen is to get US Soccer out of youth development. My opinion is that they are very poor at it. They tanked the men’s side and I’m very concerned they will do the same with the women with the gda.

[Unregistered]

In almost every other sport where parents have kids that are "world" talents, they either move or ship their kids off to where their kids talents are better served.

But for some reason Soccer parents feel that the NT's should come to their doorstep so that they aren't inconvenienced.

And we wonder why our NT's don't do better.

[Unregistered]

The single best thing that could happen is to get US Soccer out of youth development. My opinion is that they are very poor at it. They tanked the men’s side and I’m very concerned they will do the same with the women with the gda.

The single best thing that could happen to youth soccer is US Soccer becomes the single curriculum that every club follows. One system from top to bottom makes for easier identification of talented and motivated players for the highest levels of international or collegiate play.

ECNL and the rest of the rogue 'showcase' teams should die along with the pay-to-play model they rely on. We all know this is the problem. Fewer showcases and more training is the path to having a deeper more talented pool of players. If you need proof, then simply look to the way the rest of the world does it on the men's side which is infinitely more competitive than the women's side.

[Unregistered]

The single best thing that could happen is to get US Soccer out of youth development. My opinion is that they are very poor at it. They tanked the men’s side and I’m very concerned they will do the same with the women with the gda.

I agree.

US Soccer should stick to adult soccer. They are not helping by trying to get involved in youth soccer.

[Unregistered]

The single best thing that could happen is to get US Soccer out of youth development. My opinion is that they are very poor at it. They tanked the men’s side and I’m very concerned they will do the same with the women with the gda.

US Soccer ran the men's side into the ground. Hopefully they don't do the same with women.

[Unregistered]

delusional

Someone could tell you that, but that would be wrong. Anyone living in a small market suffers from limited competition. Driving to Eugene may be closer to get to more competition, but for any player who is devoted and wants to improve at the highest rate possible in this area, driving to higher population metro like Portland, staying with friends, adjusted school curriculum etc. is the likely best option for that player. Doesn’t matter as much the team (individual choice). Need to find a team with enough skilled players that know how to give and receive one touch passing, trap and control, pressure the ball and can match speed etc. These qualities matter to a player being able to develop in practice. Maybe playing on boys teams might work for a girl in smaller markets, but even that has its own limitations. “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another...” Proverbs 27:17. Nothing new here.

You are delusional if you think driving from Medford to Portland to practice is worth for a change to play for the women's national team. Same with Bend to Portland. It is debatable to say ECNL or GDA is worth it at all. To much money and time.

[Unregistered]

You are delusional if you think driving from Medford to Portland to practice is worth for a change to play for the women's national team. Same with Bend to Portland. It is debatable to say ECNL or GDA is worth it at all. To much money and time.

Hm... you said National Team, not me. My words are right there, a player that wants to “improve at the fastest rate” should consider traveling to where there is a higher concentration of players with skills and athletic ability. You may believe Portland does not offer this compared to Bend and Medford, and that is your opinion. Or perhaps you believe the reality of faster improvement is “debatable” and therefore not worth the effort. However, every kid’s situation and interest level is unique. Your blanket statement that someone has to be “delusional” who may disagree with your opinion is exacting in a false way. And please don’t respond with “there are always exceptions”. A player that is sincerely motivated to travel far for their sport in order to improve and perhaps unlike you, finds value in it, is already an exception and they exist without delusions.

[Unregistered]

US Soccer ran the men's side into the ground. Hopefully they don't do the same with women.

Give it time. They will drive it downward while the rest of the world catches up and the passes our women.

[Unregistered]

Give it time. They will drive it downward while the rest of the world catches up and the passes our women.

The ole US Club showcase platform gave US Soccer just the perfect push need to send the US girls straight into the abyss...jus sayin, nothing like a head start, right. Might be past the point of correction even with a DA up and running. A decade worth's of damage is already done.